Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder: The Greatest Mother's Day Gift of All (Almost)

My dad and Stevie Wonder have a love/hate relationship. He's a year older than the soul singer, so it's rather weird hearing him talk about Stevie as if they were brothers, despite the fact that they have never met. Ever. But that's how it is with my family: we have beefs and issues with people we m ... More >>

Saturday Night: Red Hot Chili Peppers at Toyota Center

Red Hot Chili Peppers Toyota Center October 20, 2012 The Red Hot Chili Peppers have stuck around long enough -- through drugs, overdoses, creative strife and changing musical tides -- to have 30 years of hits they can knock out into the nosebleeds at any given live show. Saturday night's Toyota C ... More >>

True Blood: Flailing Blindly

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood -- which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. If I had to describe last night's episode in one word it would be ... More >>

Last Night: Stevie Wonder at Outside Lands

The following is a dispatch from San Francisco's Outside Lands Festival from our VVM Bay Area sister paper, SF Weekly. -- ed. Stevie Wonder Outside Lands Festival Golden Gate Park, San Francisco August 12, 2012 Stevie Wonder, in theory, is an American artistic treasure. He's more than our Beatles ... More >>

Stevie Wonder Divorce Heralds Impending Doom

Even though Mason Lankford said, "There will come a day when we forget the Rapture ever even happened," Rocks Off is keeping an eye out for signs of our impending Armageddon. I was wrong last time, but I'm totally right this time! Sad news in the entertainment world. Beloved pop star Stevie Wonder, ... More >>

Braving the Boos: Bob Dylan and 10 More Artists Unafraid to Piss Off Their Fans

Forty-seven years ago this week (wow!), a '60s folk icon by the name of Bob Dylan made his third and final appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I. It was a highly anticipated set -- Dylan was the de facto leader of the American folk-music revival at the time, and his folkie flock ex ... More >>

Friday Night: John Legend At Reliant Stadium

John Legend RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 2, 2012 With a soft smile, seducing glare, and smooth voice, John Legend hit the Rodeo Friday night with his brand of neo-soul, hip-hop and R&B for HLSR's Annual Black Heritage Day. The Springfield, Ohio native, nee John Roger Stephens, looked very co ... More >>

6 Musicians and Their Charities

​The main knock on celebrity charity is that it's essentially a brand-building tool -- good for image and not much else. The tax savings don't hurt, either. But not all charitable connections are about image-burnishing and tax savings. (God, we sure hope not.) The number-crunchers at Forbes lo ... More >>

Father Figures: 100 Famous Musicians' Paternal Professions

If you're a Texan of a certain age, this week you've probably spent some time mourning the death of Jerry Haynes, the children's TV host better known as Mr. Peppermint. Haynes' show on WFAA-TV in Dallas, Peppermint Place, ran from the '60s to the '90s and was widely syndicated across the state, incl ... More >>

Touch the Sky

The 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival in exactly 12 paragraphs.

ACL Last Night: The One, The Only, Stevie Wonder

Photos by Marco Torres​Stevie Wonder Austin City Limits Music Festival Bud Light Stage, Zilker Park, Austin September 17, 2011 Stevie Wonder says we're all part of the same family. Saturday night at Austin City Limits, he had about 45,000 (we're guessing) Jesus children of America in the palm ... More >>

ACL Last Night: My Morning Jacket, Loud And Extremely Amplified

Jim BrickerJim James of My Morning Jacket​While one side of Zilker Park was vibing with godhead Stevie Wonder, the other was being bathed in volume and industrial melodies by My Morning Jacket, who continuously make good on their tag as one of the best, if not the best, live American rock band ... More >>

ACL: The Sound (Or Lack Thereof) & The Fury

Photos by Chris GrayYes, that stage is as far away as it looks.​When a bleary Rocks Off arrived at the media area this morning, there was some chatter about Stevie Wonder's supposed sound troubles, and more online, both in our review and the Austin American-Statesman's. (By the way, we've upda ... More >>

Five Can't-Miss Acts At ACL Fest This Year

Craig HlavatyWe're running this picture of My Morning Jacket's Jim James now because this will be the last we see of him all weekend.​For weeks after we skipped last year's Austin City Limits Music Festival to man the controls in Houston, Rocks Off found ourselves thinking, "Man, I wish I woul ... More >>

Five Questionable Musical Tributes To Nelson Mandela

White House Photographic Office, Clinton Administration​As recognized by the United Nations, today is Mandela Day, honoring the birthday of the beloved South African president, humanitarian, and all-around badass Nelson Mandela, who turns 93. Mandela is a living legend, leader, hero and inspir ... More >>

ACL Fest Schedule Released; Your Guide To The "Death Duels"

Stevie Wonder on FacebookStevie Wonder: Even My Morning Jacket will be watching.​This morning, the organizers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced the schedule for the September 16-18 Zilker Park throwdown. We all knew there would be some tough choices, but Rocks Off found that w ... More >>

Happy Hour Scene: Poscol

​The Place: Vinoteca Poscol The Deals: $2 small glasses of wine, $1 cicchetti The Hours: 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays The Scene: I like visiting bars where you might have second thoughts about touching anything in the bathroom, let alone eating. I also appreciate nicer places that ... More >>

Lyrical Advice For The Class Of 2011

"Move back in with your parents! Let them worry about you!"​There will be no guitars and Marshall stacks at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion this weekend, just "Pomp and Circumstance." As the Class of 2011 walks across the stage soon to be occupied by Peter Gabriel, Widespread Panic and Ki ... More >>

Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, And Kanye West Lead ACL 2011 Lineup

Marc BrubakerGoin' back to Zilker: Arcade Fire at The Woodlands, May 4​Moments ago, the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced its lineup for the 10th-anniversary weekend, scheduled for Sept. 16-18 in Zilker Park. Top names include Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Kanye West, and Bright Eyes. P ... More >>

Arcade Fire On For ACL; Kanye Expected In Midnight Lineup

​Tonight at midnight, the folks at C3 Presents who book the Austin City Limits Music Festival are expected to drop the lineup in full onto the festival's official Web site. And like, duh, Rocks Off will of course be up and about to post it to the blog once it goes live. You are more than welco ... More >>

Happy Birthday Stevie Wonder: The Cliff's Notes Version

​Today pop legend Stevie Wonder turns 61 years old, and to this day he continues to thrill audiences around the world with his pop prowess and ear for a hook. And damn, 61 is pretty young, but consider he's been in music since he was all of 12, back when he released The Jazz Soul of Little Ste ... More >>

Detroit Leanin': Who Is The Best Motor City Artist Ever?

detroitrockcity.altervista.org​Some places breed music. Due to sheer size, any big city will produce its fair share of talented musicians, and some - Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago - seem to have music in the water supply. But none, arguably, more than Detroit: John Lee Hooker, the Motown dias ... More >>

Idol Beat: Mass Hysteria!

​Shock! Outrage! Shenanigans! Casey Abrams voted off! Last night, American Idol had all the signs of the Apocalypse rolled into one (all the Ghostbusters ones, anyway). Dogs and cats living together? Well, James Durbin is like a big puppy dog, and Pia has a certain cattiness about her. Check. ... More >>

Idol Beat: Detroit, Shlock City

​In spite of Idol Beat's absence last week (I was undergoing treatment for nose hemorrhoids), Fox's karaoke juggernaut steamrollered on, topping the ratings once again for Wednesday and Thursday night. Last week's casualty, MySpace's Karen Rodriguez, wasn't much of a surprise. I mean, the bili ... More >>

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble

David Caceres

Blogging Bonnaroo: Norah Jones, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z

Photos by Mark C. Austin/See the slideshowStevie Wonder on Bonnaroo's main stage​Houston artist Tyagaraja recently won the Ford Fiesta Team Houston Battle of The Bands, the grand prize of which was a trip to perform at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee. Meghan Hendley, keyboardist/vocal ... More >>

Can't Forget The Motor City: Our Favorite Motown Jams, Part 2

​ Rocks Off - sorry, He Said; we're still getting used to this whole identity-shift thing - is sure some of our readers think we do nothing except sit around and listen to the Drive-By Truckers all day. To which we say: Have you heard Bettye LaVette's The Scene of the Crime or Booker T's Potato Ho ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: Black Joe Lewis, Raphael Saadiq and Smokey Robinson

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttBlack Joe Lewis and the Honeybears​Joe Lewis alternated between sweating profusely into his harmonica and howling into the microphone, doubled over on the stage with the pain and joy of their fourth show of SXSW, as the white-shirted Honeybears -- minus keyboardist ... More >>

Shoulda Stayed Away: The 10 Worst Comebacks Of The Decade

​The Oughts, or whatever the hell people are going to call them (The Hell Years?) Are quickly drawing to a close; meaning it is a time to reflect on the 10 years that we've endured.Hair Balls and our sister blogs, Rocks Off and Eating...Our Words, will be putting together various lists delineating ... More >>

Idol Beat: The Top Ten Results

Photos by Frank Micelotta/ Fox Songs in the Key of Idol: Stevie Wonder performs Thursday night.I dare you. I double-dog dare you. Try not to break out into a toothy, mile-wide grin while watching Stevie Wonder command a stage, loop-de-looping through a handful of his zillions of classics in t ... More >>

Post-Valentine's Day Relationship Rescue Songs

Dwight McCannSo Valentine's Day is over, and you spent all your dough on Cupid swag for that special sweetie, which hopefully bought your way out of the doghouse for the time being. But if not, Casanova, your Rocks Off homies still have your back - provided you have an iTunes account. Sentime ... More >>

Big Sam's Funky Nation

British Television Advertising Awards

It’s the Super Bowl for hawkers on the small screen

Five Songs for MLK Day

Stevie Wonder

An Icon returns to the stage after 14 years

Night School

DVD review

Woodbelly

Woodbelly performs Friday, March 30, at Dan Electro's Guitar Bar, 1031 East 24th, 713-862-8707.

Supreme Party

Yvonne Washington

Tuesday, February 14, McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999.

Hurricane Mixtape

Music to drown by

Raul Midón

State of Mind

Mellow, Chilled-Out Fellow

The wonder that is Devin the Dude

Citizen Arcane

Broadcast mines Czech vampire films and French library music to create lush electronica

Best Retro DJ

DJ Mod Scott

Black Gold

A gusher lay beneath the surface, but you had to drill deep

Isn't He Lovely

Glenn Lewis waits for the world to see him as more than just a Wonderkind

Best Grocery Store Music

Fiesta

Night & Day

October 29 - November 4, 1998

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